At the same time, team Tanaka were on their way heading towards the Republic’s capital.

Unfortunately, however, they had no information regarding the Torochi royal family. Thus they decided to visit the cities and towns along the way to gather information about them.

Suke-san and Kaku-san were too eye-catching, so Tanaka had them posing outside of the town, as he moved to infiltrate the town on his own.

Tanaka was eager to gather information on the whereabouts of the Torochi royal family. He visited one tavern after another to the point he had gotten afraid at the sight of milk, but in the end he was unable to obtain any results in his investigation. In the midst of all this, however, he heard the news of the Alliance army’s march.

The Alliance army suffered considerable damage from the dragon’s attack. However, they made a rapid recovery right after. After absorbing the reinforcement troops, within a short period of time, they finished reorganizing their troops and proceeded to resume their march once again.

The Alliance army’s movement was faster than Tanaka expected. At this rate, he wouldn’t make it in time for his thieving at the scene of the fire operation. Given the situation, the Alliance army was now his enemy. Resisting the urge to plead to the Republican army to stop the Alliance army’s march, he focused on his endeavor of information gathering.

When he found a school, he would break in and enjoy admiring the female students from afar. While avoiding the eyes of the old man on guard duty each time, the sharpness of Tanaka’s movements was polished steadily.

When he found a theater, he would visit it every day to support his favorite actresses. In the cheering squad, as he continued to lead them in their cheers for her in unison, his dexterity increased steadily.

As time continued to tick away, he eventually completed the first volume of the Republic Beauty List. Tanaka looked at the completed beauty list with satisfaction. He was showing the face of a man who had accomplished something.

In such a way, Tanaka managed to lead a fulfilling daily life. Thanks to that, team Tanaka set out on a journey to return to Haru Empire with a light heart.

◇ ◇ ◇

The Republican army followed Cassius’ order and didn’t confront the marching Alliance army heads on. They continued to stall for time by harassing the Alliance army with numerous small scaled scuffle. Thus, they gradually moved back the front lines over time. By the time the front lines were pulled back to the Ninoude Cloister, the so-called gateway to the capital, the preparations were hereby completed.

That was right, this was the battlefield designated by Cassius for the final battle. Cleverly concealed, the preparations for the summoning ritual, which were set on this battlefield beforehand, had been activated.

Without being informed of this all, the Republican army dutifully took up their position. All that remained was to wait for the arrival of the Alliance army. At the remote headquarters in the rear, Cassius was observing the battlefield with a satisfied look on his face.

「How is the magic tool that has sucked both the blood and soul of your parents? It looks like you’ve gotten a lot more accustomed in controlling it.」「… No.」

Cassius smiled as he spoke to Brutus, who was standing next to him. In contrast to Cassius, however, Brutus replied to him with a blank expression.

She usually hid her face deep in her robe, but currently her head was sticking out in the open. Her neck, inlaid with the magic tool of servitude, was also revealed.

「Royal blood isn’t something you can get your hands on so easily, so be sure to take a good care of it. Besides, it’s an important tool for controlling the summoned Evil God in this strategy later, after all.」

「I understand.」 Cassius smiled wryly at Brutus’ bland reaction. As a side effect of the magic tool of servitude, her emotions were suppressed.

Cassius, for his part, hoped her to show more emotions. Because very soon, she was about to have to clash against her own siblings, after all.

He could feel madness gushing forth from the depth of his heart. It suddenly occurred to him that once this war was over, he would remove the magic tool of servitude and enjoy her following reaction. That was a decent plan for his short term enjoyment, or so he convinced himself in his own madness.

「Nevertheless, I was intending to bid my time here and enjoy it more, though. Everything is ruined because of those monsters. Well, in the end I still managed to accomplish our main goal here, so I doubt they’d complain over a slight complication. For now, let’s just enjoy the final battle before bidding farewell to this country.」

Cassius seemed to be enjoying the whole situation so care freely that it was hard to imagine they were right before a final battle.

Eventually, the Alliance army finally showed up. They had been reduced in number after being trampled down by the dragons, but upon absorbing the reinforcement troops, their numbers had returned back to 50,000 once again. In contrast, the Republician army was only 15,000 in number. They waited in ordered lines patiently for the Alliance army to arrive. And when they had attracted enough Alliance army, the Republican Army began to make their move as well.

.

Name: Tanaka

Level: 30 Experience: 720/3000 Guild Rank: EVitality: 4.4e13/4.4e13 Magical energy: 6.6e13/6.6e13

Strength: 4.4e12 Dexterity: 4.6e12 Agility: 4.9e12

Intelligence: 5.9e12 Spirit: 6.2e12

Skills: Sword (2.33) Magic (2.38) Believed One (1.52) Dragon Slayer (5.69) Spirit Master (0.20) Equipment: Sword, Cool clothes, Black cloak

Money: 4548,000G

.

Name: Suke

Level: 20 Experience: 1739/2000 Guild Rank: E

Vitality: 235.00/235.00 Magical energy: 299.00/299.00

Strength: 123.00 Dexterity: 121.00 Agility: 170.00

Intelligence: 145.00 Spirit: 149.00 Skills: Lance (1.29) Magic (1.34) Dragon Slayer (5.36)

Equipment: Scythe, Black robes

Money: 100,000G

.

Name: Kaku

Vitality: 4096.00/4096.00 Magical energy: 4096.00/4096.00

Skills: Personification (10.00) Magic (10.00) Grand Magic (1.03) Apostle (0.20)